MEMPHIS, TN – MARCH 24: Lonzo Ball #2 of the UCLA Bruins drives to the basket against Wenyen Gabriel #32 of the Kentucky Wildcats in the first half during the 2017 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament South Regional at FedExForum on March 24, 2017 in Memphis, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
In an attempt to grow its audience, the Pac-12 Network, a media organization owned by the 12 schools in the conference, deployed a relatively new content strategy offering from Facebook: crossposted video. Crossposted video makes it possible to share a video post across a number of pages that are managed by different owners, and then to gain insight into a post’s performance across all of the pages it appeared on, according to Facebook.
Last summer, Pac-12 Networks executives met with Facebook, a partner of the network, and was thereafter invited to try out the new functionality. In implementing the feature, Pac-12 Networks wanted to expand the reach and visibility of its constituent schools while maintaining each university’s individual brand voice, the Facebook article explained.
“We’re thrilled to continue to work with our neighbors at Facebook to be one of the first sports organizations to utilize their crossposting tool,” Pac-12 Networks head of digital content Sam Silverstein said in a statement. “This new method has been wildly successful in introducing the amazing stories of our schools and student-athletes to new and greater audiences for us, our member schools, and our partners at the NCAA.”
The feature was particularly useful in advance of last year’s Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, where the Pac-12 Networks had a video production unit on-site, according to the case study. Crossposting allowed Stanford to post video of Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledecky, a Cardinal swimmer who led her team to the 2016-17 NCAA title. The crossposting increased views of one particular video by 81.4 percent, Facebook reported.
And in June, an NBA Draft highlight reel of former UCLA basketball player Lonzo Ball was posted by the Pac-12 Networks; it was then crossposted by UCLA and the Los Angeles Lakers—for whom Ball will soon make his pro debut — accounting for over 40 percent of the video’s 3.6 million views.
In the spring sports season, Pac-12 Networks began sharing its social media video content with the NCAA, leading to even greater viewership. According to the conference, from July 2016 to June 2017, their social media views increased 39 percent and engagements increased 28 percent. Pac-12 Networks also saw views increase 60 percent from crossposted content, resulting in 15+ million views across the network, Pac-12 schools, the NCAA and other content partners.
“Working closely with our Universities and leading digital companies has enabled the Pac-12 to amplify the stories of our incredible teams and student-athletes to more fans in a more compelling way than ever before, all while driving tune-in and viewership to our core portfolio of TV events,” Ryan Currier, who heads digital business and products for Pac-12 Networks, said in a statement.
In a 2016-17 season in which Stanford took home a swimming championship, Oregon made the NCAA Final Four, and Ball became one of the most visible athletes in the United States, the Pac-12 Networks’ use of crossposting has clearly showed positive results.
